Angels of Los Angeles

Amynta McNair is a seventeen year old born and raised in Aberdeen. She got a scholarship to one of the best all-girls' schools in England, and hates the thought of having to spend her summer holidays in the soaring temperatures of Los Angeles. She soon feels comfortable hanging out with her stepbrother and his friends, but things take a weird and Amynta finds herself hunted by the Archangel Gabriel. And who or what exactly is her father?

10. Chapter Ten

The thought of being one of the people at the centre of a murder investigation is absolutely terrifying to the point that I feel like I’m going to be physically sick. The feeling gets worse when I think about Kayleigh, who actually did kill Tina. I lie on the bed looking up at the ceiling in Aubrey’s room; which is the only place not covered in One Direction posters and think wish that I could turn back the clock to before any of this happened.

I wish that I could go back to the last day of term, and go to Susanna’s for the summer. I turn onto my left side, and find myself face to face with one of the band members and jolt backwards, almost falling off the bed. “What’s wrong?” Aubrey looks up from the tattered Twilight book she’s reading for what I assume is the millionth time.

“I think I’ve just had my worst fear realised.” I tell her.

“What’s wrong with Harry?”

“Besides the fact that I really want to shave his head?” I ask back, she looks at me intently. “Nothing, I suppose.”

“You want to shave his head?”

“Well, have you seen how long his hair is?” I pause. “Guys with long hair aren’t sexy.” To my surprise Aubrey chuckles at the comment, before returning to her book. I pick Hey Nostradamus up off the floor and read it hoping that it will take my mind off the fact that I am being watched.

After an hour, I take my book and head downstairs. Ben’s still in the living room and Melissa’s sat next to him clinging onto his arm as if to make sure that he can’t escape. I kind of feel sorry for him actually. “Hey.” Melissa says as I sit down at the opposite end of the settee. They’re watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians, well, Melissa is. Ben looks so bored. “Do you watch this show?” she asks me when the advert comes on.

“You want my honest opinion?” I ask, and she nods. “I hate reality shows.” Melissa looks offended as she turns her attention back to the TV. Realising that I may have said the wrong thing, I get up and move through to the kitchen.

Rowan’s at the cooker, making dinner and Mum is setting the table. I sit down in the chair closest to me and go back to reading my book. “What’s wrong, Minta?” Mum asks. She still has napkins in her right hand as she puts her wrist on her hip, and her other hand on the back of the chair to her side.

“I think I might have offended Melissa.” I tell her.

“Is she watching the Kardashians.” Rowan asks as he looks over from the other side of the room. I nod. “You need to agree with whatever she says when she watches that show.” I frown.

“Why can’t she like Criminal Minds?” I mutter under my breath, but it seems that I’m not the only person in the house with awesome hearing.

“She doesn’t like crime shows.” Really? I never would have guessed. I think as he says it, but I smile and nod at him. I go back to reading as Mum and Rowan focus on dinner.

After dinner, Melissa drags me away from my essay and I end up in the back of Ben’s Jeep. I try asking where we’re going, but Melissa only tells me that it’s a surprise. We stop at the traffic lights and I look in my bag for my phone, before I can find it however, I come across the small phial that Michael had given me for safe keeping.

It lies flat in the palm of my hand; I watch the black smoke swirl around in its black cage. I can feel something trying to control me the longer I stare at it, I return to the real world when the door opens and Melissa’s voice announces that we’ve arrived.

“What’s up?” Melissa asks as she watches me. I look down at the seal in my hand, before letting it go and withdrawing my hand.

“Nothing,” I tell her as I get out the car. “I just thought I’d forgotten something.”

I look around and spot the rest of the gang standing off to the left waiting to get in a club. “You want to take me, Ben’s underage stepsister, to a nightclub?” I question her as we walk over to the others, who are now at the front of the queue. I dig around in my bag and pull out the fake ID that I got two years ago. I check the date of birth, and thankfully, it says I’m twenty one today. I show it to the bouncer and he lets me in.

As I look up, Oscar and Ben are staring at me. “I’m genuinely shocked that you have a fake ID.” Oscar says as he walks behind me.

“When I got it, it said I was nineteen.” I tell him.

“And you got into clubs?” he asked, his voice getting a little higher.

“I wasn’t in the US at the time.”

“Oh, right. Yeah.” Oscar says as we come out of a dark corridor and into a huge room lit only by red spotlights overhead. “Welcome to the Angel Club.” Oscar yells at me over the pounding music.

I follow Melissa and the girls over to the bar and sit on one of the stools. I’m about to order a drink when a second barman places one in front of me. I look at the drink and then up at the barman. “From the guy over there.” He points towards a dark haired guy on them. He looks at me and raises his own drink.

“Oh my God!” Melissa freaks out. “You’ve only been here five seconds and already a guy has bought you a drink.” She watches the guy on the stairs turn and walk up them before turning back to me. “How do you do it?”

“I don’t know.” I say. “Maybe it’s a Scottish thing?” I pick up the drink and take a sip – I might as well.

Once the others have drinks, we head up the stairs to find the guys, and I find myself scanning the crowd looking for the guy that got me a drink. I eventually spot him in the far corner, surrounded by a group of odd looking people dressed in black. One of them has splashes of red on her dress. And she seems to be very interested in my mystery guy. Once she’s moved onto the next guy, I leave the gang and walk over to him.

“Thanks.” I tell him as I reach him. “For the drink I mean.” I look anywhere but directly at him.

“You’re welcome.” He responds. He has an RP accent and I find myself questioning the stability of my knees.

“You’re a pure soul.” He tells me as I sit down across from him. “I like that.”

“Only in the Victorian sense, so don’t ask me to save the world or find something for you, because I’m actually pretty selfish.”

“A very human trait.” He says as he leans forward. “But you are only half.” I stop and stare at him. Is he a friend of Michaels? Why do people want me to know that I’m half human all of a sudden?

I gulp and give a weak smile as I put the glass down on the table. “So I’ve been told.”

“You’ve been speaking to my little brother.” My eyes widen as I focus on him. Who the hell is this guy? “Michael.” He leans back in his seat putting his arms across the back.

“And you are... Jesus?” I guess.

“No. He’s much too pious.” He flashes his teeth as he grins at my stupidity.

“You’re Lucifer.” I guess again only this time my voice is quiet, like I don’t want people to know the devil literally bought me a drink. I look around and before I can stop myself, I cross the short distance and sit next to him. “If you know that I’m half human, then you must know who my father is.”

“If I told you that, then you would have no reason to speak to me after tonight.” He chuckles.

“Who says I want to talk to you after tonight?”

“You’re curious.” He says. He’s not wrong; I mean how many people get to have an actual conversation with the actual King of Hell.

“So what if I am?” I say. I don’t mean to sound defensive. “Meeting the Devil for the first time is a big thing for us mere mortals.” He laughs at me again. I open my mouth to speak but I’m interrupted by a dark haired girl with purple eyes.

“Charlotte,” Lucifer says standing up with his arms outstretched. “How nice of you to join us.” But Charlotte doesn’t lean in for a hug, she looks like she ready to kill him and I find myself wondering what Lucifer did to anger this girl.

Charlotte says something in another language and Lucifer turns and takes my hand in his, leaning in to kiss it in that totally Pride-and-Prejudice-old-fashioned-gentleman kind of way. When she’s sure that he’s gone, Charlotte sits down and turns to face me and I feel like I’ve been sent to the Headmistresses office. “Pay no attention to Lucifer.” She tells me.

“Who are you? And how do you have purple eyes.?”

“You have purple eyes too.” She laughs.

“My eyes are blue.” She looks at me funny and hands me a mirror. I take it and she’s right, I do have purple eyes. “What’s happening to me... can other people see it?”

“Only those from our world.” Charlotte says as she returns the mirror to her bag. “Your mortal friends see blue eyes. Except your brother-”

“Stepbrother.” I correct. “And what makes him so special?”

“He has been chosen.” Charlotte says. She looks around and pulls me out onto the balcony of the club. It’s far quieter here, I mean we can still hear the music but it’s just a faint sound coming from inside. Especially now that the doors have been closed.

“What’s going on?” I ask as I mentally pray that she isn’t about to throw me over the railing.

“The Fates placed Ben’s father in your mothers’ path,” she begins. “He has been touched by the Gods, chosen to protect you should your life be in danger. He is, from now until one of you dies, your Guardian.”